Mentored Student Learning

What is mentored learning?

Mentored learning is a BYU initiative that encourages significant hands-on research and creative scholarly opportunities for undergraduate students. One-on-one or small group mentoring opportunities with faculty give undergraduates an educational experience that typically is only available in graduate school. Instead of striving to become a major research university, the inspired goal of BYU is to become the best undergraduate teaching university in the nation. Undergraduate mentored learning has become a significant component of achieving this goal.

A practical environment for preparation

Mentored learning provides a practical environment to prepare undergraduates for prestigious graduate programs, top career opportunities, or to otherwise bless the lives of people in their families, communities and church. Mentored learning helps students discover important solutions to difficult, real world problems. It helps students apply knowledge, organizational skills and leadership skills gained in a mentored learning environment. It also helps students motivate those around them and obtain greater opportunities following graduation.

Because of high academic admission standards, students coming to BYU are among the best educated and best prepared students in the world. But BYU wants to do more than just pour information into undergraduate minds. BYU wants to give students the opportunity to apply that information—to push back the frontiers of knowledge; to have them actually participate in a creative or research experience with their professors. Students are expected to be active learners, with as many as possible receiving some type of graduate-level experience while undergraduates.

LDS Philanthropies, a department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is responsible for philanthropic contributions to the Church and its affiliated programs and institutions, including: